Devastated after the civil war, it is lovely to realize that America started its industrial revolution at that very era.
One good thing lead to another, thus, with the zeal to have continued source of cheap energy, which was the coal, it triggered other industries and businesses around.It is very important to note that Americans had already, as early as the early beginning of the nineteenth century, been raising start-up capital for transportation enterprises such as turnpikes and canals (Boyer 405). This was made possible through a corporate-style of commercial entity or organization.It may sound so far away, 19th century, and now it is the 21st century, it was about two hundred years ago but the corporate world back then, has been so active as ever. Corporations were utilizing stocks and bonds to raise money (Boyer 405).The rise of corporate America was in perfect timing by coinciding this period with new inventions, specialty productions and innovations and marketing paving the way to colossal growth of the United States economy (Boyer 410).
Labor conditions were greatly impacted by these changes as well.The rise of corporations triggered mass-production and that means the end of the artisans customizing orders from customers. Mass-production gave rise to non-skilled or semi-skilled labor; after all, skilled individuals were not needed anymore as there were machines available in helping them complete their jobs.In the modern age as of today, we do not feel the difference of the impact of these changes that happened before. We are born during this mass-production age but for those people living during that time, it was a big deal. For the people who cannot identify the individual who created their pair of shoes, it makes a lot of difference.
It was even noted that the cultural values that accompanied the appearance of the business corporation have largely been lost in history, where managerial enterprise is often treated as something new, alien, and thoroughly opposed to principles of social reform and reordering. " (Lipartito and Sicilia 95) Yes, the economy boosted from having a lot of people getting jobs than before but those were neither easy nor highly- paid labors earning lower than a dollar per day for mill workers (Boyer 417). Contract system was even the hype those days and I thought it is only the effect of liberalism in modern days!2. How did the growth of cities and the influx of immigrants create a new awareness of ethnic and class differences? How were racial stereotypes used to reinforce these distinctions?Identifying who made your shoes for you was impossible but at least it was best to stay being identified "who" you really are. Thus, migrant laborers stick to their culture and ethnic practices to stay clustered with each other.
This is no different from normal human reaction because we ourselves would like to belong to something or someone or someplace that we have knowledge of or some attachment to. In the case of migrant workers, they stayed with their countrymen as possible retaining and practicing what they all together know such as culture, beliefs and traditions.According to Boyer (416), Foreign-born English, German, and Irish workers setup ethnic trade organizations and joined affiliated benevolent associations, and being bound by ethnic and religious ties, they observe weddings and funerals according to old country traditions. This was even before the heavy influx of labor immigration hit the United States.With the heavy influx of non-skilled migrant workers, stereotyping became even more emphasized.
“Slums” and “ghettos” (Boyer 437) came into view and the stigma of these words remains up to the present. Although this attitude is not exclusive in American cities, as there are also “ghettos” and “slums” in many cities of the world, this stereotyping reinforced identity to those immigrants. It is sad though that in present times if you say “slum” or “ghetto” it connotes something negative in nature.And that’s how they Jews got it, they used to stay together and be identified with each other in their Jewish “ghettos” and for sure they never imagined that their aim to be with each other would result to the people’s current perception of the “ghetto”.Before these stereotypes, ghetto was typically walled, with gates that were closed at a certain hour each night, and all Jews had to be inside the gate at that hour or suffer penalties." ("Ghetto 19324")And sad to say, when you say “ghetto” these days, it does not refer to be exclusive to Jews anymore… it is something that denotes “danger, chaos and crime”, not necessarily committed by or related to the Jews but section of a city where members of any racial group are segregated.
